This invention relates to the field of peat moss, more particularly to improving the wettability of peat moss.
According to the current state of the art, surfactants are used commonly as wetting agents in the peat moss industry. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,937, Templeton describes the use of EO-PO polymers and silica to relieve hydrophobicity of peat moss, bark, and rockwool in soilless mixes used for plant growth, promoting easier, faster, and more even watering of such mixes without plant injury. Hagen, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,455,149, describes water swellable peat pellets including peat moss, a pH adjusting agent, a wetting agent, and an optional processing additive with a preferred bulk density of about 300 to about 600 kg/m3. The wetting agent can be nonionic surfactants such as copolymerized alkane oxides, for example ethylene oxide-propylene oxide copolymers (EO-PO). Outside of the field of peat moss, various soil additives have been used and proposed to prevent evaporation, promote seed germination, and reduce drainage, for example PCT/CN2011/073298 filed Apr. 26, 2011 describes introducing a bulk additive such as guars, unwashed or washed guar gum or polymers such as polyacrylamide and poly(meth)acrylic acid to a target soil area and contacting a top layer of the target soil area with a surface additive.
We have found that use of surfactants such as EO-PO copolymers with silica and other alkane oxide copolymers does improve the hydrophilicity of peat moss but they do not sufficiently improve the ability of the peat moss to resist leaching.